First Wheatear

Dungeness - warm, dry, sunny, n 2 - At last we`ve seen our first Wheatear, a female on the beach near the lifeboat station, so that`s it, spring has officially arrived! With this being the best day of the Bank Holiday weekend, weather wise, birders were everywhere enjoying the sunshine and a host of gorgeous Firecrests performing like good `uns, particularly in the lighthouse garden where there was at least 10 birds. At times they were flitting around on the grass in the open snapping up insect morsels for all to see, flying between birders and even one that briefly alighted on a camera lens! A terrific sight, and one of our finest birds. More Firecrests were scattered around the gorse scrub on the point along with a few Blackbirds, Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, 3 Continental Coal Tits and half a dozen Black Redstarts.

                                1st Wheatear by the lifeboat station

                               Chiffchaff, lighthouse garden

                                Firecrests, lighthouse garden

RSPB  Moving onto the bird reserve at Boulderwall, 5 Smew were on the pools included two drakes, while the 2 Spoonbills were more elusive and only showed briefly. Wigeon, Curlews, a Dunlin, 2 Little Egrets and 7 Buzzards overhead also noted. At the old farmhouse there was plenty of Tree Sparrow activity around the nest boxes and a Chiffchaff sang from the willows in ARC car park.
From the causeway road the 2 Black-necked Grebes were still on New Diggings.

                                 Tree Sparrows. Boulderwall